God and the Temple Robbers-Jack Vance short story

God and the Temple Robbers-Jack Vance short story (author’s preferred title)

AKA: The Temple of Han

God and the Temple Robbers is a 15 page short story that was first printed in the magazine Planet Stories in July, 1951. Vance explained how this story was originally part of an epic novel that was rejected for publication. It was one episode that he salvaged from the novel.  It has also had the title "The Temple of Han." The main character is an Earth man, Briar Kelly, who disguises himself as a Han, an alien species that outnumber humans on Earth, and goes to one of their temples where he steals a religious jewel called the Seven-year Eye that he hopes to sell. While fleeing, however, the sky suddenly changes and a new sun appears in place of the old one.  The Han have somehow moved Earth to a different location, and that is merely the first step in the drastic measures they will take to regain the jewel.  The story is engaging and worth reading. I’ve read it three times and rated it a 4 “Really liked it.”

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Dark Side of the Moon (1986 Underwood-Miller)

Included in the Vance collection titled Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Works of Jack Vance, vol. 1 (2010 Subterranean)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled World-Thinker and Other Stories (2017Spatterlight)